Mmda

Mixed-methods data analysis
Graduate Seminar in English Language Studies

Suranaree, March 2011
Richard Watson Todd

KMUTT
http://arts.kmutt.ac.th/crs/research/mmda.ppt
Overview
 Pure quantitative research

 Pure qualitative research
 Mixed-methods research
 Collecting both QUANT and QUAL data using
different instruments
 Mixed-methods data analysis
 Usually only QUAL data collected
 Data is treated both quantitatively and
qualitatively
Quantitative or qualitative?
 QUANT – QUAL distinction in applied

linguistics research
 QUANT: data is numbers; uses statistics
 Experimental research; surveys
 QUAL: data is words; uses thematic or
narrative interpretation
 Conversation analysis; ethnography
Mixed-methods research
 “A mixed methods study involves the

collection or analysis of both quantitative and
qualitative data in a single study with some
attempts to integrate the two approaches at
one or more stages of the research process”
(Dörnyei, 2007)
 Purposes:
 Achieve a fuller understanding
 Triangulate findings
Examples of mixed-methods research
 Poor example
 Research into attitudes: survey a large number
and interview a predetermined small number of
subjects
 Purpose: unclear
 Similar, slightly better example
 Research into attitudes: survey a large number of
subjects, then, selecting based on questionnaire
responses, interview a small number
 Purpose: follow-up on interesting results
 An example of the opposite
 Interview a small number to gain insights to
design a questionnaire, then survey a large
number
 Purpose: informing instrument design
 Another similar example
 Research into beliefs: interview 4 teachers but
survey 80 students
 Purpose: accounting for practicality in using
instruments
 An example focusing on triangulation

 Research into strategies: comparing results from
different instruments
 Much strategy research involves the use of SILL
 SILL asks respondents to identify how often they
use a particular strategy
 Strategy use is context-dependent
 Research question: Will recent context of learning
change responses to SILL?
 Method
 Single subject
 Time 1: read academic articles
 Time 2: read short stories for pleasure
 Responded to SILL twice
 Interviewed 4 times (background interview, after
SILL responses, summary interview)
 SILL responses
 Showed major differences between 2 times e.g. “If I guess
the meaning of a word, later I will check whether my guess
is correct by using a dictionary.” rated Always at Time 1;
Never at Time 2
 Interview responses
 Showed that recent learning contexts influenced different
ratings
 Triangulation to confirm results or triangulation to
provide different perspectives
Mixed-methods data analysis
 “The most common perception of mixed methods
research is that it is a modular process in which
qualitative and quantitative components are carried
out either concurrently or sequentially. Although this
perception is by and large true, it also suggests that
the analysis of the data should proceed
independently for the QUANT and QUAL phases
and mixing should occur only at the final
interpretation stage. This conclusion is only partially
true … we can also start integrating the data at the
analysis stage, resulting in what can be called mixed
methods data analysis”
 Dörnyei (2007)
Mixed-methods data analysis (MMDA)
 From Dörnyei, MMDA means

 Quantitising qualitative data
 Qualitising quantitative data

Quantitising qualitative data
 Quantitising is often done unconsciously
 Conducting a keyword analysis
 Use of IELTS scores in research
 Quantitising helps a qualitative analysis by
allowing a reliability check
 Quantitising can be used to count and
compare frequency of themes
 Quantitising allows further statistical analysis
of data, but information is always lost when
converting QUAL to QUANT
Qualitising quantitative data
 Not common
 Narrative profile formation
 Using quantitatively obtained questionnaire data
in a qualitative description of a subject
More complex MMDA
 Nature of QUANT data

 Concise
 Allows further analysis (inferential statistics)
 Provides summary information
 Nature of QUAL data
 Detailed and informative
 Allows insight into cases
 Provides in-depth information
More complex MMDA
 What purposes can mixing QUANT and

QUAL data analysis serve?
 Illustration for insight
 Concise summary to give overview
 Preliminary overview to inform analysis
 Providing a more well-rounded and more
persuasive analysis
MMDA: Illustration for insight
 In many QUANT studies, it is easy to get lost

in the numbers and forget what they mean
 If the numbers are derived from QUAL data, it
is useful to give a QUAL example to
concretise the QUANT findings
 In Case 1, the original data is QUAL; this is
quantitised for analysis; a QUAL example is
given to concretise the data and to show how
the quantitative analyses was applied
MMDA: Summarising for an
overview
 In some QUAL research (primarily involving
categorisation or thematisation), the lengthy,
detailed data make it difficult to see the
overall pattern
 It can be useful to provide a QUANT
summary as an overview
 In Case 2, the data is QUAL and analysed in
a QUAL way, but the overall pattern of results
is presented as QUANT
MMDA: Preliminary overview to inform
analysis
 In QUAL studies with large amounts of data, it is
difficult for the researcher to ensure that all relevant
issues have been identified
 It is also difficult to see underlying patterns that can
be drowned in the sheer quantity of data
 It is useful to conduct a preliminary QUANT analysis
to ensure all issues and underlying patterns are
identified
 In Case 3, QUAL data is treated qualitatively to find
keywords which then inform a QUAL thematic
analysis
MMDA: Providing a more well-rounded
and more persuasive analysis
 In QUAL studies with large amounts of data,
restricting analysis to either QUANT or QUAL
cannot provide a full picture of the data
 QUAL provides detailed description of the
data
 QUANT provides generalisations of patterns
to the whole data set
 In Case 4, QUAL and QUANT analyses are
used together to produce a fuller description
of the data
Uses of MMDA
 Use  Pattern
 Illustration for insight  QUANT → QUAL

 Summarise for  QUAL → QUANT
overview
 Inform analysis  QUANT → QUAL
 Provide full picture  Mix of QUANT and
QUAL

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Mixed-methods data analysis

Graduate Seminar in English Language Studies

Richard Watson Todd

 Pure quantitative research

 QUANT – QUAL distinction in applied

 “A mixed methods study involves the

 An example focusing on triangulation

 From Dörnyei, MMDA means

 Qualitising quantitative data

 Nature of QUANT data

 What purposes can mixing QUANT and

 In many QUANT studies, it is easy to get lost

 Illustration for insight  QUANT → QUAL

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